Labour has evoked the former prime minister as it outlined its policing plans for power, promising to be “tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime”.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper pointed to the famous quote made by Sir Tony 30 years ago when he held the same frontbench position.
“It was right then, it’s right now,” she added. “It’s what we did then, it’s what we’ll do again.”
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Speaking at the Institute for Government in London, Ms Cooper launched a scathing attack on the Conservative Party, saying they had “totally failed to deliver a policing and justice system fit for the 2020s”, and that there was “no sense of direction or urgency about the challenges communities face”.
She said that, under a Labour government, there would be a “fundamentally different approach” to the “shocking level of chaos” under the current Home Office leadership.
The shadow minister reiterated her party’s plan for a £360m package to recruit 13,000 additional neighbourhood officers and PCSOs, paid for through a “police efficiency programme” to increase shared services and procurement.
“Neighbourhood policing shouldn’t be seen as a Cinderella service,” she said. “It should be the building block on which the rest of policing is based – not left to the edges of policing, but protected and prioritised.”
Ms Cooper also said Labour would introduce new mandatory requirements on vetting standards and misconduct through legislation to help increase trust in forces, after cases such as the murder of Sarah Everard by Wayne Couzens, and the multiple rapes committed by serving officer David Carrick.
More broadly, Ms Cooper said Labour “believes in active government”, so would do more prevention work on crime, and have “active strategies in vital areas”, including violence against women and girls, fraud, youth violence and anti-social behaviour.
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She said the change would stop policing from being “a reactive crisis response service instead of proactive and solving”.
Ms Cooper also promised that the Home Office would work with councils, community groups, businesses, the NHS, schools and the voluntary sector to improve on policies.
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“Over 13 years, the Conservatives have let communities down,” she said. “Only Labour is the party of law and order now.”
The Home Office has been contacted for a response.
